Chapter 29: Reunion

"Wake up Seth." Ariea says and I bolt up in bed.

"Shh, don't make a sound." I hear Ariea whisper. She has her hand clasped over my mouth. I listen closely to the world around me. To my dismay, I hear the all too familiar humming of the Ethereal. How had they gotten here? The town had been quiet yesterday when we went to search for supplies. I creep to the window to get a better look outside.

Below were waves of Ethereals, varying in shape and size. Some looked like disfigured humans wile some were more akin to animals. It was almost as though the zombie apocalypse that everyone had hyped about had really come to pass. Though in this case, if you get hit, you wont come back. I guess that's one bright side.

A tap on my arm brought me out of my daze.

"Where are you?" I whisper.

"Over here. Quickly now." Was the reply. I walked towards the woman's voice, and almost fell out the other window.

"Be more careful." Ariea said. I gave her a look.

"Here, take my hand." She said, and helped me climb onto the roof.

"Seth, what are we going to do now?" Seren whispered to me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"We fly of course." Ariea said. I hear a loud pop above my head, which is echoed by the cries of the Ethereal from the street.

"What have you done?" I ask. "They know where we are now."

"Hold on to this quick." Ariea says and moves my hands to a metal bar.

"What is this?" I ask her again.

"It's a hang glider Seth!" Seren says somewhere to my left.

"A WHAT?!" I get out before my feet are swept off the ground.

"Yahoo!" I hear Ariea scream.

I cling tightly to the glider's hand bar, trying not to lose it. I had never been great with heights when I could see, but without my vision it was a million times worse. I had never felt more like I was lost in the darkness.

"Ease up kid, you're gonna crash us." Ariea says. I ease up on my death grip a bit and grit my teeth.

"Where are we going?" I yell over the rushing wind.

"To meet up with your friends. I told you they asked me to find you right?" she replies.

"Where are they?" I shout.

"Some rich guys place, just north of here."

"Maybe it's the safe place Jay told us about." I think aloud.

"I don't know who this Jay fella is, but he seems to have expensive taste."

I pause, noticing the humming of the Ethereal growing louder.

"Watch out!" I yell and lean heavily on the glider, making us roll sharply. Everything moves in slow motion as a giant serpent flys past, only a hair's breadth from where we just were. We had avoided death, or rather prolonged it as we were now plummeting out of control. I hear Seren's shrill scream in my ears, of course showing me the ground hurtling towards us.

"Damnit kid, what did I just tell you." Ariea yells. "Hold tight now."

I feel a sharp pain as my arms crash into the metal bar of the glider. Surely we had crashed, and yet I could still feel the wind whipping past me.

"What happened?" I ask. "How did we not crash?"

"Lean left." Ariea said and I obeyed.

Whish

"What was that?" I ask.

"Right!"

I lean right

Whish

"Seriously what was that?" I say. I can hear hysterics in my voice.

"God you ask a lot of questions kid. Right!"

I lean right again.

Whish Whish

"Get ready to jump." Ariea says.

"WHAT?!"

"Jump!"

I grit my teeth and let go of the bar.

My feet hit the ground quickly and I tumble over pine needles and pine cones.

CRASH

"S**t. That was my favorite glider." I hear Ariea curse me under her breath.

"What the hell did I tell you." She continues, as she storms over and prods me in the chest.

"I'm sorry I saved our lives." I say and smack her hand away.

"Is that what you call saving? You nearly crashed us you idiot. If I hadn't caught us we would have been pancakes." She yells.

"If I hadn't done that we would have been corpses." I yell back.

"Enough both of you!" I hear a familiar red voice.

"Clair?" I ask.

"Hi Seth." She spoke but her voice was lifeless. "You had all better hurry inside."

*******

The safe house was a mansion. It came equipped with a generator and a geothermal water heater. As well as a generously stocked storm cellar. The real reason for this house though was to keep out Ethereals. The walls were lined with iron, and even the windows had a thin iron mesh in it.

As the five of us sat down to eat, Danta caught me up on all that had happened since I had left.

He was as loud and boisterous as ever, yet I could feel Clair's silence like a knife in my chest.

After dinner I help was up the dishes and Clair shows us to our rooms for the night. As we reach my door I turn to her.

"Clair, I want to apolo..."

"Goodnight Seth." She says interrupting me,and she walks away.

I wait until I hear the click of her door before I close mine and head to bed myself.

*******

Click Click Click

The sound of my footsteps reverberate in my ears. I wonder where I am, maybe another sewer system? The air was too clean, yet it was still damp. So it had to be underground.

Click clack

I lift the latch on the door in front of me and step into a large room with six sides. Engraved into the walls were carvings that seemed to depict powerful beings. Three of them I could feel, were whole and potentially quite beautiful. A fourth carving seemed to have been broken, and the fifth wall was blank. As I traced my fingers along the carvings I could almost make out their shapes. One was of a giant bird with wings outstretched, ready to fly. Another was a large serpent, in its claws it cradled a bumpy sphere. The third depicted a woman with a hand to her throat though instead of feet she had a scaled tail. The fourth had been shattered, though the pieces on the ground also seemed to depict some kind of bird. As I placed my hand on the final wall a glow started to form behind me.

Emerging from the carved walls came three distinct figures. From the wall of the bird came a form I had only just met, Ariea, the woman with wings. From the wall of the fish woman came Seren, a girl with an enchanting voice. From the wall of the serpent came Jay leader of the Dragons. And from the cracked wall came a form that brought me to my knees, the form of Phoenix, a man with much wisdom.

I stared at the man who had died protecting us. The one who's brother I had shot. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I tried to tell him I was sorry, so very sorry, but the words wouldn't leave my mouth.

The man turned his head towards me, and smiled a sad smile. He walked towards me and placed a hand atop my bent head. Though he didn't utter a word, I knew he had forgiven me.

Phoenix guided me to the center of the room, and returned to the spot in front of his mural. As he stood there another light grew from the fifth wall. Unlike the other four its light was not so welcoming. It was an amber hue that I had come to know all to well. I had to get out of there, I thought to myself, but my feet remained still, as though welded to the floor. From the wall emerged a figure that had become even more grotesque since I had seen him last. The twisted figure of Solemn stood taller than the rest, its arms stretched out like tree roots, falling as low as his feet.

Die, die, die

The air seemed to chant the words as Solemn opened its mouth. After a moment it twisted its body to strike. Luckily I had time to duck before its long arm flew over my head, only to land upon a stationary Phoenix. At that moment the others reacted, cornering the creature pressing him back towards the blank wall.

Help me...

It's words hung in the air as it slipped back behind the stone slab.

The remaining figures returned to their walls, guards positioned to keep Solemn at bay. I looked sadly at the ground where Phoenix had stood moments before; leaving only cinders. As I watched, the cinders grew into a small flame. It grew larger and larger until it had taken shape again, Though this time it was not Phoenix who stood there; it was Clair.

I could feel all of their eyes on me as I stood there. Their gaze was like a ice.

Once more the four left their walls, though this time they were not after Solemn, but me. I couldn't help but take a step back from them, their figures growing, becoming ever brighter until they became no more than dancing flames. Still they pressed me back, back towards the blank wall.

I felt the cold rock on my back, there was nowhere for me to go, but still they pushed closer. It felt like the wall behind me begun to swallow me, as I had seen it do to Solemn moments before.

"Please no!" I cried, trying to break free of the wall, to no avail.

"Please, what have I done?" I ask, but none reply.

I feel the wall close around my chest making it harder to breath.

"Please. Help me!" I say with a final breath before the wall covers my mouth.

I try to catch a breath, but it's impossible.

I wake up in a cold sweat. I hear static coming from down stairs. Curious, and attempting to avoid thoughts of my nightmare I follow the sound. I find the source of the sound in the living room. Coming from an old radio.

"Hello? Is.. there... Ne.. elp. I repeat, we need help." A girls voice plays through the speaker.

"That's been playing on repeat since we turned that thing on." I hear Clair's voice from behind me, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin. "They're probably not even there anymore."

"I see." I say sighing. "Hey Clair, can I talk to you?"

"What's there to talk about? You left us, hell, you knocked the wind out of Danta to get away. And he won't talk about it, but I'm sure he was hurt. Especially after what happened to Solomon and Phoenix. He cares about you, and you just took it for granted. Took all of us for granted."

The knife of her words dug deeper into my chest with each sentence.

"That's not it at all." I say, my eyes facing the ground.

"No? Then tell me what did happen?" She said practically spitting.

"Seren called out to me, and my body started to move on it's own. I tried to fight the what my body was doing, but I couldn't. I've spent these last couple days trying to find my way back to you."

"Right, like I'm supposed to believe something like that." She says.

"I know it sounds far fetched, but a short time ago would you have believed the whole world would be wiped out from ghosts?" I ask. Silence.

"I suppose not. Though even if what you say is true, that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. First my family, then Jay, I thought I had lost you too."

"Never. You will never lose me. I promise, even if I'm far away, I'll come back."

"How can you make such a promise.?" She asks.

"Because I can't stand the thought of making you sad." I reply.

"I... hmm." I hear her stammer. "Stupid Shortstop."

I grin sheepishly.

"PLEASE HELP US! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!" Someone screams over the radio, cutting through the static. Clair and I both jump towards the radio.

"This wasn't playing before was it?" I ask frantically.

"No." Clair replied.

"Please there are only a couple of us left." The voice says through audible sobs. "Please help we are in the path, they've blocked our exits."

"Path? What path?" I say even though I know they can't her me.

"Wait what if she means The PATH."

"You mean those underground tunnels under the city?" I ask

"Yeah. We used to use them to get away from the minders, but they quickly found us out."

"But that's back where we came from." I say my thoughts racing.

"We have to go get them." Clair says before I can say anything.

"If we go we'll die." I reply.

"You don't know that." She says. "Besides, it's what Jay would have done."

I want to tell her off, that she is idolizing Jay too much, but at the same time, I wanted to save them too.

"Alright." I say. "Lets wake the others."

Author's Note

YAY! Another chapter is up, and an important one at that. We have now reached the halfway point.
As usual this chapter is brought to you by some great music. This chapter is thanks to the many covers of Undertale tunes.
Thanks for keeping with me till this point people who have read this before. And thanks to all those who are just joining us.

Reviews

[Lucy Morningstar &heart..]

So, a few wee things:

I found the beginning of the chapter sort of came out of nowhere, because at the end of the last chapter Ariea walking away and now Seth is waking up, which is a bit confusing, just because it wasn't clear that Seth and Seren had followed her, or that he'd gone to sleep. I think adding an intro sort of explaining that might be good, but you're the writer and it's your story and you know it better than i do.

Second, there were a few tiny little grammatical things but to a lot of people that may not even register for them, it's just my stupid brain.

Third, there were a few things that could be taken out and have it still make a ton of sense. And I think maybe having Ariea call Seth "kid" so many times in a row is a bit redundant because after the first time, we get how she sees him as a kid, so it's kind of unnecessary to keep calling him that.

Overall, I really, really liked the chapter, and liked the little dialogue bits. And you know I'm the biggest WLIS (And Eryn overall) fangirl that there is, so of course I think it's wonderful and a great addition to the story.